Sisters Black
by swanglade37
Summary: Everyone knows of the rift between Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and Andromeda Tonks. But once upon a time, it wasn't so. Once upon a time, Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa Black were as close as sisters could be.


Everyone knows of the rift between Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and Andromeda Tonks. No, chasm is more appropriate a word. But once upon a time, it wasn't so. Once upon a time, Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa Black were as close as sisters could be. Once upon a time, Bella would send a curse toward anyone who so much as voiced an imperfection of her sisters (they are perfect), Andi would stare straight into the soul of someone who mocked them (not that anyone would _dare_ ), and Cissy would artfully ignore or ridicule the person who made one disparaging comment about her sisters' tendencies in polite company (they didn't deserve her attention anyway). By the late 1960's, however, Bellatrix was a known follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Narcissa was married to one, and Andromeda had been blasted off of Auntie Walburga's family tree. But once…

* * *

… Bellatrix would protect her sisters from anything:

"Bella?" Eleven-year-old Bella Black turned away from the storm outside with a sigh.

"What is it, Cissy?" Seven-year-old Narcissa Black's chin wobbled slightly.

"I don't like the lightning. Or the thunder. Or the-"

"You don't like the storm." Bella clarified. _Only six more months until I can go to Hogwarts._

"No."

"And your rooms are big and scary and you'd rather sleep with me in mine."

"Yes." _Still six more months until I can go to Hogwarts._

Bella rolled her eyes inwardly. Cissy did this every time there was a storm. And considering how many storms there were in Argyllshire every year, Cissy spent approximately forty percent of the year sleeping with one of her two sisters. Speaking of which…

"Why didn't you go to Andi?"

"Couldn't find her."

Bella blinked. Andi migrated between her own chambers, the courtyard, and Auntie Walburga's townhouse when they weren't in lessons. "Did you try-"

"I tried everywhere, Bella."

"Then," Bella said, rising from her window seat, "we are going Andi Hunting. Sleep will have to wait a little longer, Cissy."

"Okay." Cissy said cheerfully, ever the night owl.

It soon became apparent that Cissy's comment of looking 'everywhere' was untrue. Twenty minutes after the hunt began, Bella found the older of her two younger sisters in the middle of the courtyard (dressed in only a nightgown) happily getting soaked by the rain. Bella groaned inside. She should have known. Where Cissy was terrified of storms, Andi, aged nine, loved them.

She loved the noise, the lights, and she especially loved the wet. Had Bella not known better, she would have said that her sister was part-naiad, the way she loved water. No, Andi was not afraid of rain. But she _was_ afraid of spiders, and as Bella dragged both of her younger sisters back to the mansion, one came into sight. When Andi saw it she squeaked in fright. Bella drew both of her sisters close. "I assume we're all sleeping in my bed tonight." she said dryly. Her resolve crumbled at their looks of gratitude. _Only six months until I go to Hogwarts. What are we going to do?_

* * *

… Andromeda would put her sisters above her own distaste of pureblood society.

Andi Black eyed the room with repulsion. No matter what the people in this room projected, they were all disgusting pureblood fanatics. Rodolphus Lestrange, Bella's husband, Augustus Rookwood, member of the Department of Mysteries, even Auntie Walburga! It wasn't fair, she reminded herself, to judge these people who, up until a few years ago, she'd agreed with wholeheartedly. _But now I know better._

Then the disgust in her eyes turned to glee. _They have no idea_. It was ironic, really, her coming-out (and seventeenth birthday), and none of the guests knew she had already promised herself to Ted. Well, almost no one.

As if he could read her mind, Sirius smirked at her. Though he was only ten, Andi was confident he would break Black tradition and be Sorted into Gryffindor. Sirius wasn't the only one who knew, of course. Cissy had caught her sneaking off to the elopement, and Andi had been forced to tell her younger sister everything. Okay, not forced to. Andi hated keeping secrets from her sisters, so Cissy catching her had been a relief. She didn't particularly care if Cissy told Bella, because although she loved her older sister, Bella was changing. Andi was relatively certain that Bella was Marked, and if she wasn't yet, then she would be soon.

She and Cissy had fought hard against Bella's marriage to Rodolphus, but in the end it hadn't mattered. Cygnus and Druella were desperate for an alliance with the Lestranges, the Edgecombes, and the Malfoys. They had three daughters, and each of the aforementioned families had a son near one daughter's age, so it seemed like a perfect arrangement. The only wrinkle was that there was no way in hell Andi was marrying Ulysses Edgecombe. There was no way she _could_ , anyway. She and Ted had exchanged vows the night before, and her parents couldn't to anything about it. She only had to survive three more hours of this nightmare, and then she'd be free of this life- _forever_.

She was interrupted from her daydreams of tea times with Bella and Cissy and Ted in a comfortable cottage with a few small children playing on the floor nearby by a shrill shriek. Recognizing it instantly as Cissy's, she practically flew across the room to get to her sister, less than a heartbeat before Bella. Cissy was lying on the floor, Fenrir Greyback leaning over her predatorily. Acting on instinct, she pulled Cissy up as Bella threw a curse at Greyback. As he tried to escape the bees attacking him, Bella joined Andi in checking over Cissy. Even once Cissy had assured them that she was okay, they stayed on either side of her, a makeshift guard.

For the rest of the evening, Andi did not once leave her sisters' sides, rebuffing boy after boy, and getting more than a few glares from her parents. She couldn't care less. Cissy had indeed told Bella, and Andi was glad that Bella wasn't so far gone not to support her in her dreams. _Maybe that tea scene isn't so impossible._

* * *

… Narcissa was her sisters' primary confidant.

Though the youngest, Cissy Black was by no means the least observant. She recognized the signs of Bella growing more obsessed with the Dark Lord and Dark Magic in general three months before Bella joined the Knights of Walpurgis (later known as the Death Eaters). She knew Andi was hiding something six months before she caught her sneaking out of Black Chateau for her elopement. She knew Lucius would bring the Malfoy name to ruin and she knew Draco and later Scorpius would salvage it. But that was all in the future.

For the first eighteen years of her life, Bella and Andi trusted Cissy more than anyone. And she trusted them. Their father hadn't really been around very much, too busy with this mistress and that, and (Cissy wasn't afraid to admit) their mother was a drunkard who seldom left her own rooms (Cygnus and Druella hadn't shared a bedchamber since the night their third daughter was conceived) except for parties (Bella had been evasive about their mother's behavior for years, but Cissy and Andi had sniffed out the truth two days after Bella'd left for Hogwarts).

The sisters told each other everything. Eventually. It didn't matter if Andi didn't tell Bella until Lee's than two hours until she left, because she _did_ tell her. It didn't matter if Bella didn't tell Cissy she was Marked until after the fact, because Cissy found out before Bella was sent to Azkaban. And it didn't matter if Cissy didn't tell Andi that their parents were pushing harder and harder for her wedding to Lucius Malfoy until she brought the wedding invitation, because Andi knew anyway. Andi was also observant. But I digress.

For eighteen years, Bella told Cissy her fears and her hopes, and Andi confided her dreams and her nightmares, and Cissy never told a soul.

No one wondered about Cissy's knowledge because she was a girl. Had they asked, she might have told them about Bella's worry that Rodolphus would stray or Andi's confidence that the three of them and Sirius and Regulus would all escape the Black family shadow. Except she wouldn't, because she'd never betray her sisters' trust. _And they'd never betray mine._

* * *

No bond can last forever…

Bellatrix Lestrange had no trouble murdering Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, because her little sister Andi disappeared the night of her seventeenth birthday.

Andromeda Tonks didn't mind cursing Lord Voldemort's name, because her big sister Bella and her little sister Cissy were already strangers to her six months after her wedding.

Narcissa Malfoy couldn't have cared less when she heard the news that the Mudblood Ted Tonks was dead because she hadn't spoken to her big sister Andi since before Andi was pregnant.

* * *

… but even the ones that break can be mended.

Bellatrix's last thought before Molly Weasley's curse was _Andi was right. Andi was right all along._ Eight years later, Andi Black Tonks brought her grandson, Teddy Lupin, to her big sister's grave and told stories to both all afternoon.

Andromeda's last words to her older sister were "I hope you're killed by a mother whose child you tried to kill!" during a fight between the two, and she never regretted any words more. _I'm sorry Bella. I'm so, so sorry._ Almost forty years later, she got up the courage to talk to a remnant of Bella Black Lestrange

Narcissa received her first invitation to tea at her younger older sister's place and her first thought was _She kept her promise and didn't abandon us when she married Ted Tonks._ More than forty years later, she received another invitation to tea at now her only older sister's, but this one was much more of a surprise.

* * *

 **Word Count: 1655**

 ***swanglade37 enters, center stage***

 **Hey people! How are you guys doing? Happy February!**

 **Okay, pleasantries aside, I hope you liked this, since I wrote it in about two or three hours while avoiding the fact that the Super Bowl was rather noisily playing in the other room and every so often my family (who really don't care about football) would explode (not literally). I wrote this in between changing the song playing in my phone and restocking on cheese (because what's life without the fifth element? Virtual cookies to anyone who got that reference).**

 **I'm well aware that I only have twenty-four days to finish the next two chapters of** FNT **, so I may not publish anything else before then.**

 **And to any Eagles fans (or Eagles period) out there, Happy Super Bowl, and congratulations. To Patriots fans or Patriots period, my condolences and your streak had to end sometimes. The higher one flies, the harder they fall. As you can tell, I'm really bad at providing comfort.**

 ***swanglade37 exits, stage left***


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